For my son's first Valentine's Day, my mother-in-law got him an adorable puppy-shaped box of chocolate covered animal crackers. Since he finally got a few chompers, and the cookies were small (about the size of a quarter), I decided to let him have one during playtime. A few minutes later I noticed my usually laid-back boy was fussing and clawing at his face and eyes. Upon closer examination I saw his face was covered ear to ear with little raised bumps, and his hands and eyes were puffy. I got him to the doctor's office right away, and they said it was an allergic reaction to something he ate and to see his regular doctor the next day. They also said that as bad as this reaction was and as quick as it happened, the first reaction is never the worst. It's the second and subsequent reactions that are far more severe than the initial reaction. I took the box of cookies with us, and on the ingredients list it said Contains: Milk. It then had a little disclaimer that said "Manufactured in the same facility that processes peanuts." His regular doctor referred us to an allergist in the city, and we had an appointment the next week. This is when my life changed forever.
On his big sister's sixth birthday, my little man was being poked in the back dozens of times for an allergy test. Within minutes I was told that he was allergic to milk, eggs, almonds, and peanuts. Peanuts. The one allergen we had been dreading since the whole ordeal started. Keep in mind that the cookie Connor reacted to didn't actually have any nuts in it. It touched something that also touched a product with nuts in it. The doctor told us the importance of keeping Connor away from not only peanuts and almonds, but all nuts, as they are usually processed in the same facilities, which leads to cross-contamination. He then gave me a prescription for Epi-Pens. Notice the plurality. We don't get just one. We have two. And it's not so we can keep one at home and one in the car. We have to keep them together at all times because if he ever needs them and we are more than 25-30 minutes away from a hospital, he will need a second dose. And did I mention you have about 30 seconds to get the first dose into him before he goes into anaphylactic shock? Keep in mind we're talking about a baby. MY baby.
That night I picked up his prescription and sat my husband down with the informational DVD and training devices to learn how to use the pens appropriately and become comfortable with them so we would be ready, willing, and able to perform the heart wrenching job were it ever necessary. After the initial shock wore off, I had time to sit down and think some harrowing thoughts:
- If the cookie only came into contact with the same surface as a cookie with nuts, what would have happened to him if I had shared a peanut butter cookie with him at a coffee shop?
- If the reaction to cross-contamination would be more severe next time and the times after, how severe is contact with an actual peanut product going to be?
- I am now going to have to rely on the honesty and completeness of big corporations and their nutrition labels. And that could determine whether or not my son stays out of the hospital, or worse.
I don't know if reaction by cross-contamination is less severe than a reaction with say, a peanut butter cookie, but I do know that with my little one, even the slightest trace of peanut breaks him out in hives pretty quickly. We haven't had to use the Epi-Pens, and my hope is that we never will. From now on I will have to be vigilant in reading, contacting, and even cooking and baking my own safe-foods at home to prevent any kind of reactions.
And you have no idea how bad you start jonesing for a peanut butter sandwich or some chocolate peanut butter ice cream after four months of not being able to touch the stuff. Not to mention peanut butter cups, peanut or peanut butter M&Ms, Hershey's with Almonds, etc.
Great job girl!
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